Films & Other Videos

Films with: Thieme, Thomas

A 1984 East Berlin simple surveillance assignment: Capt. Gerd Wiesler, a Stasi officer and a specialist in surveillance, has been assigned to keep an eye on Georg Dreyman, a respected playwright, and his actress girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland. Though Dreyman is known to associate with blacklisted director Albert Jerska, a known dissident, Dreyman's record is spotless. Wiesler discovers that Minister Hempf has an ulterior motive in spying on this seemingly upright citizen. Wiesler's sympathies shift from the government to its people - or at least to this one particular person.

After Hitler took over power in 1933, many Jewish artists were forced to leave Germany. Wilhelm Furtwängler choose to stay. Though never a member of the party, he was a receipient of honors associated with party membership. However, the conductor often used his position and contacts to save hundreds of Jewish musicians from concentration camps. When U.S. Major Steve Arnold is tasked with the pre-trial investigations, his aim is to prove that the conductor's genius contributed to the Nazi propaganda, while Furtwängler insisted he stayed to bring comfort to the German people with his music.